


Patton's Birthday 2021

by screamingatstars



Series: Sanders Sides Birthday Works [10]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Baking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Loneliness, M/M, Morality | Patton Sanders Needs a Hug, Phone Calls & Telephones, can be read as platonic or romantic, patton's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28799820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screamingatstars/pseuds/screamingatstars
Summary: Patton is alone on his birthday for the first time ever, but a call from Virgil is just what he needs to lift his spirits.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Sanders Sides Birthday Works [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1574050
Kudos: 28





	Patton's Birthday 2021

**Author's Note:**

> I am once again a day late (Remy's birthday fic will probably be out tomorrow), but I'm really happy with how this one turned out! Hope you enjoy!

Patton had never once spent his birthday alone. Even after he moved out, there were always friends to invite over for a bit of cake and an evening of board games. Simple, wholesome fun that he looked forward to every year, and a great excuse to whip up batch after batch of cookies.

But now, things were different. His roommate Virgil was still with his family from when he had visited for Christmas, his flight back to their shared apartment cancelled due to a snowstorm. Roman had an important callback today, a potential starring role in a large title, and Patton had already insisted ahead of time that he not pass up the opportunity for his sake. Remus and Janus were away house hunting in California, preparing for a big move. Logan was in a car, making the ten-hour drive up to where his boyfriend lived in order to be there to celebrate Remy’s birthday the next day. That phone call had stung Patton’s heart, but he had swallowed down the lump in his throat and smiled anyway. Just because his three best friends were all going to be away or busy on his birthday didn’t mean they didn’t care about him, after all! It just meant that Patton wasn’t their top priority, and that was normal- it was a good thing. He would never ask them to put him first, but as much as he tried to squash down the loneliness clawing in his chest, he found he simply couldn’t.

Which led him to where he was now: Sitting on a wooden stool in front of his oven, wearing his favorite cat onesie, watching and waiting as a tray of chocolate cupcakes slowly baked. He was more than a little hot, and his back was sticky with sweat, but he knew that changing clothes would be too much for his emotions to handle in that moment. So instead, he fixed himself a bowl of ice cream and settled in for the twenty minutes it would take for the cupcakes to be ready.

This wasn’t a bad way to spend his birthday, he tried to reason with himself. He’d have delicious cupcakes pretty soon, and Roman had promised to take him out to lunch tomorrow as a sort of make-up celebration. Virgil was flying back in two days, assuming the weather cleared up where his family lived, and then the day after that Logan would be here too. Even Remus and Janus would be visiting eventually. His friends weren’t gone forever, and life would go on.

He knew that. But as he stared through the oven window and played with his onesie’s zipper, it was hard to ignore how completely and utterly _alone_ he felt, right in this moment.

Tupperwares full of cookies in his fridge, frosted in red and purple and green and yellow and two shades of blue. Scrabble and Monopoly and Mexican Train sitting in his closet, untouched. Heat on his skin, but empty cold in his heart.

A tear slipped down his cheek.

He missed them.

That was when his phone started ringing, the familiar cheery music startling him out of his spiral. Quickly wiping at his eyes, Patton nearly dropped the phone in his haste to answer, completely forgetting to check the caller ID.

“Hello?” He said hopefully, holding his breath in anticipation.

_“Hey, Patton.”_ Virgil’s voice had never sounded sweeter. _“Happy birthday. I’m sorry I can’t be there in person to give you your gift.”_

“Thanks, Virge,” Patton managed to say, a little broken sob making his chest hitch. “And don’t worry about it. It’s… it’s good to hear from you.”

_“Woah, hey, what’s the matter?”_ Virgil asked, concern palpable even over the phone. _“What’s wrong? Are you crying?”_

“N-no, I’m not! I’m okay, don’t worry about me,” Patton forced himself to say. All at once, his usual instincts to hide his hurt were kicking in, tugging his mouth into a smile even as his stomach twisted painfully. “It’s been a bit of a long day, but nothing I can’t handle! I’ve even got some cupcakes a-going in the oven!”

He realized his mistake right as Virgil spoke.

_“What kind of cupcakes?”_

Biting his lip, Patton hesitated. If he admitted he was baking himself chocolate cupcakes, Virgil would immediately recognize it for what it was: a coping mechanism. His ultimate comfort bake, reserved only for when he was especially upset. “Um…”

A knowing sigh. _“What kind of cupcakes are they, Patton?”_

The jig was up. He could never bring himself to lie to his best friend. “…chocolate.”

_“Let me guess, you’ve got that canned frosting out too.”_

He pulled the hood of his onesie up guiltily. “Maybe.” He had stocked up the day before, grabbing at least three times more than he would need for the cupcakes. Sometimes, licking frosting off a spoon like he had when he was a kid was the only thing that could make him smile.

_“Tell you what.”_ A chair scraped against a hard floor, and Patton heard faint footfalls as Virgil presumably walked into a different room. _“How about, once your cupcakes are done, you and I can think of something to do over the phone together. A game, or something, I don’t know. Would that help you feel better, at all? Less crappy?”_

Patton sat up straighter, already feeling a little bit lighter. “You’d be willing to do that?”

_“Of course, duh. I was planning to be back home with you originally, until this stupid storm got in the way, remember? I’m supposed to be destroying you at Mexican Train right about now.”_

That got a real laugh out of him, and the next tears that fell were more out of happiness than misery. “I wish we could play Mexican Train over the phone,” he said with a sniffle. “That’d be nice.”

_“Yeah, it would be,”_ Virgil agreed _. “We can do that as soon as I’m back. Set aside the double twelve, okay?”_

“I will,” Patton promised, a genuine smile on his lips. “Thanks, kiddo.”

_“Don’t mention it. For now, let’s figure out how to keep you occupied while- oh, heck, are your cupcakes okay?”_ Virgil’s voice pitched higher at the end, nervous, and Patton shook his head quickly as he peered into the oven.

“Yep, they’re doing fine, fit as a fiddle,” he said. “I’d say about halfway to go.” Virgil let out an exaggeratedly long breath of relief, and Patton giggled. “They’re also feeling a whole lot better than they were five minutes ago.”

There was a brief pause, and Patton could’ve sworn he could _hear_ Virgil’s embarrassed blushing. _“Aw, geez, Pat, I didn’t do much. I offered to spend some time with you, and that’s about it.”_

“And getting to spend time with you makes me happy,” Patton said simply. An idea popped into his head, then, and he grinned. “Do you want to play some Minecraft? We could finish that house we started, if you want.”

_“Heck yeah, I do.”_

In the end, Patton technically was on his own that day. But with Virgil’s voice in his ears, a cupcake on his plate, and a shared Minecraft world to fall into, he didn’t feel nearly so alone.


End file.
